Perfume River

Finished November 29

Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler

This novel is, like all Butler novels I've read, beautifully written. The main character here is Robert Quinlan, a seventy-year-old history professor at Florida State University. His wife Darla is also a professor at FSU, she teaches art theory and is working on a paper about Daughters of the Confederacy Monuments. They live in a Craftsman house that they built with an inheritance from Darla's parents years ago.

As the novel opens, they cross paths with a homeless man while eating a buffet dinner, and Robert buys him the meal and has a short conversation. The man, also named Bob, decides that the cold weather warrants a long walk to a shed behind a church, a place he knows is always left open to those who might need it. 

Robert had mistaken Bob for a Vietnam veteran, forgetting just how long ago that war was, and this error takes him back to his own youth, and his time in Vietnam and he considers why he went and what he did, particularly on one particular night. 

Robert has a brother Jimmy that chose a different path. Jimmy went to Canada, and their father William disowned him. Now their father is close to death and choosing to give unasked-for opinions. And their mother Peggy has somehow got hold of Jimmy's phone number and wants Robert to talk to him.

This is a story of family, of fathers and sons, of expectations and resentments, There is also a theme of war that arises. A book that made me sit and think for a while. 

Last Resort

Finished June 9

Last Resort by Jill Sanders

This is the first book in a series following the Grayton family, a closeknit family made up of children rescued from bad homes. The main character here is the youngest child, Cassandra (Cassey) who is in her mid-twenties for the main story. We see her backstory of joining the family, and then her beginning to owning the Boardwalk Bar and Grill, in a building that was family owned and had previously been run by her aunt Karen, but sat empty for a few years. We see her family chipping in and fixing up the building, which also has a small apartment where Cassey lives. 

This is all in a small beachside community called Surf Breeze on the Florida Gulf coast. As the main part of the book begins, the county has recently stopped running shuttle buses from the larger tourist town of Emerald Beach to Surf Breeze and it is hurting the businesses there. It seems to be a ploy to get the owners of businesses on the boardwalk to sell to a large hotel in Emerald Beach, called Crystal Shores. When Luke, the son of the owner of Crystal Shores is sent to talk to Cassey about selling he finds that he has met his match, and he begins to question his father's tactics and methods of doing business. The chemistry between Cassey and Luke is fast-acting and they become intimate quickly, but that doesn't necessarily equal a relationship. This was an interesting look at a strong woman posing more of a challenge than anticipated, and the respect that she is due for making her business work well. Cassey's siblings are part of the story, except for a sister who disappeared of her own volition a few years ago, and I can already see that there are stories that will develop for each one of them. A fun summer read. 

Boat Girl

Finished May 8

Boat Girl by Melanie Neale

This memoir grew on me as I got further into it. Melanie's story goes from her beginning to age 32, sometimes jumping a few years in the later sections. Her parents bought a new sailboat shortly before she was born, and she spent her youth growing up on the boat, travelling from her parent's home port in Virginia to Florida and from there to the Bahamas, usually on the smaller islands that make up the Exumas. Her father had worked as a lawyer prior to this, and used the money he earned there to buy the boat and fund the first few years of sailing. He began writing about their experiences and about sailing in more general ways and wrote both books and articles and continued to fund their life from these endeavours. 

I found her life interesting, from her parents' insistence on proper schooling using correspondence material from accredited schools, to encouraging her to learn practical skills that went along with owning a large sailboat and living on it. She dealt with some common teen issues such as finding friends and body image, and with her father's expectations around her relationships. 

I liked that she thought about what she really enjoyed doing and changed her major in college early to concentrate on that passion. 

Both informative and personally open, this memoir gives a realistic view of this way of life.  

Jack in the Green

Finished March 12

Jack in the Green by Diane Capri

This novella continues the series Hunt for Reacher, where FBI agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar search for information on Jack Reacher. Having had little luck trying to get information from those close to Reacher, this installment has them connecting with someone who has had a run-in with Reacher during his Army days. Retired colonel Thomas Weston is back at a Florida base for a memorial service, and the FBI agents have been given a directive to ask him some questions, just before other FBI agents arrest him. 

Weston was investigated for being responsible for the killing of his entire family, but the evidence wasn't found to convict him. 

Otto and Gaspar aren't sure if this meeting is a set-up to trap Reacher or not, and they can't figure out why Weston would return to the U.S. at this time. When things go wrong, as is usual in this series, they really go wrong, and we get to see a little of Tampa while they do.

This novel also brings in characters from Capri's other series, including Judge Willa Carson, lawyer Jennifer Lane, and reporter Jessica Kimball. 

I enjoyed the varied pace of this one, and the glimpse of some other interesting characters. 

Mrs. Nash's Ashes

Finished January 11

Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler

This is a road trip novel, and a romance novel, with a fair bit of personal growth for both main characters. Millie Watts-Cohen is headed from her home in Washington, D.C. to Key West, Florida on a mission. She carries with her a small container of ashes set on bringing them to a specific person. But this mission is also one that is driven by several things: her friendship with Mrs. Nash across generations; Mrs. Nash's own story of loss and regret; and Millie's past relationships. One of Millie's barriers to love is her childhood acting career, which has brought her lasting fame, and a driving need to control her online presence. 

After meeting a man, Hollis, at the airport after an unpleasant interaction with a "fan," and recognizing him as someone she's met before, a technology glitch causes flights to be cancelled and a race among passengers to other forms of transportation. 

Millie ends up travelling with Hollis, on a journey fraught with setbacks. They disagree about many aspects of the journey, but also find themselves confiding some of their closest secrets with each other. 

With the interesting historical component of Mrs. Nash's story, this novel looks at issues of acceptance and identity across the generations.

Both characters have trauma around previous relationships that has led to trust issues, and this is a key element of their story. 

I had trouble putting this novel down, and ending up reading way past my usual time into the wee hours to see how it developed. Thoroughly engaging. 

One Tequila

Finished September 30

One Tequila by Tricia O'Malley

This is the first book in a series centering on the psychic Althea Rose. Althea lives in on Tequila Key in the Florida Keys, and shares a shop, Luna Rose Potions and Tarot Shop, with her friend Luna who mixes elixirs and who is also (secretly) a white witch. Althea has inherited her psychic skills from her mother who is a famous psychic with celebrity clients. The is also an older woman who lives down the street and who appears to be a voodoo priestess. 

Althea and Luna often hang out at the seaside bar of their friend Beau, and one night they meet some new real estate investors in town. Both of them are drawn to one of the men and soon agree to dates. Althea enjoys her date with Cash, but doesn't give in to his hints to take it further that evening. Luna's date doesn't call her back and she feels hurt by it, and wonders why (but, um, can't she use her magic to figure that out??) Also her diving buddy Trace suddenly shows signs of jealousy. 

There is a lot going on here, but it seems badly put together and ill-defined. The various paranormal elements are all combined together in odd ways, and the characters lacked depth. 

Althea was all over the place and couldn't seem to remember basic instructions, especially when things became tense. It seldom seemed to occur to her to use her skills to gauge situations before jumping in. 

The dialogue also needed work, and was often awkward and choppy. 

This is the first book in the series, and since there are several more, I'm hoping that means that the writing improved. 

Dexter's Final Cut

Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay

This is the seventh book in the Dexter series, but the first that I've read. I haven't watched the television series inspired by the series either. So, that being said, I quickly became aware that Dexter Morgan is a very odd character. He describes himself as a monster pretending to be human, and considers his wife and three children (two of them stepchildren) to be helpful cover for him. He refers to himself as having a Passenger, a dark force that is capable of extreme violence and behaviour outside of societal conventions. Dexter also has a dark secret. He has made a habit of finding evil people and secretly, slowly, killing them, and ensuring that the bodies won't be found. He also works for the police department in forensics, specializing in blood spatter. 

Here, he is assigned a very different task, to have an actor shadow him as he works. The actor will be playing a forensic specialist in a television movie. His sister, Deborah, is a police officer and she is also assigned an actor, a woman who will be playing a police officer. 

When a body is found all four of them end up at the scene, and Dexter is able to make some astute observations as a result of the body and it's condition. As he gets drawn into the case, he and Deborah make connections to the female actor and Dexter finds himself losing his focus on his dark side, getting drawn in to the perks of high living that he is exposed to. 

When more bodies appear, the Morgans attempt to move forward with the case, but it is assigned to a different officer, one known for his ineptitude. And so they start a parallel investigation.

As Dexter's family gets drawn into the story, from his children to his wife, Dexter finds that his life begins to unravel, and his secrets may not be able to be secret anymore.

The character of Dexter is a very unusual one. He thinks himself superior to most other people, and incapable of emotions. But in his experience here, he finds himself being led by feelings that he hasn't had before and betraying those he is closest to. 

A very unusual read. 

A New Beginning

Finished September 8

A New Beginning by Brenda Kennedy

Back home in California, Angel Perez had been in an abusive relationship with a man who threatened her with violence if she tried to leave. Some of her family suspected it and her Aunt Rosie left her a message at her death, telling her to take only the necessities and run to Rosie's cottage in Florida for a fresh start. Soon after the funeral, she takes the advice. She had spent time at the cottage when she was younger, but it has been years since she's been there. The personal touches her aunt made to the place comfort her as do her next door neighbours, who welcome her. 

She soon finds a job at a small insurance agency and makes friends with the two owners, who are near her in age, Sara Roberts and Brea Kinsley. The two women are both in happy relationships and are eager to fix her up with a friend, Dr. Mason Myles. 

Mason is very interested in Angel, but she keeps advancing and then retreating. She is attracted, but wary due to her past and the unfinished business from that that she fears will catch up with her.

I found her a little too focused on her appearance, with lots of references to her revealing outfits and high heels. I also found the dialogue in the book a little stilted, and not as flowing as conversations typically are. 

The plot was one that brought some surprises and moved very quickly. 

Mostly Dead Things

Finished June 20

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

 

This is a most unusual novel. It is set around a Florida family who are all reacting in different ways to recent losses. The main character here Jessa, is a woman in her thirties, who runs a taxidermy shop. The shop was her father's and he taught her most of what she knows. He tried to train her brother Milo as well, but Milo didn't take to it as naturally as she did.  A few months ago, Jessa's father killed himself at the shop, leaving her to clean up the mess. Jessa has thrown herself into work, but isn't doing well. She and Milo are also both grieving the loss of Milo's wife Brynn who has left the family. Jessa considered Brynn her best friend, but she also had a sexual relationship with her. Brynn left behind her son Bastien in his teens and her daughter Lolee who is younger. Jessa's mom is grieving in a different way. She is both free of a man who was very dictatorial in his life, and missing him as a partner. Her way of reacting is very different. She wasn't really involved in the shop before, but now she is taking the pieces and posing them in sexual ways in the window. When a nearby art gallery sees this, they take her on to do a show, and things really get wild. 

Jessa is reacting in a very prudish way to her mother's actions, both aghast at the blatant sexuality, and upset at the way the taxidermied pieces are being taken apart and repurposed. She is also drawn to the owner of the gallery, another strong woman named Lucinda. 

Bastien is also an interesting character. Like Jessa, he is trying to hold the family that is left together, but his methods are off the map. This is a novel that took me places I didn't even know existed and expanded my mind in wild ways. 

I also loved that the author is a librarian. 

Heart of Palm

Finished June 5

Heart of Palm by Laura Lee Smith

This book takes place in a small town called Utina along the Intercoastal in Florida.The story is set around one family, the Bravo family. Years before, a chance encounter between Dean Bravo and Arla Bolton led to their marriage and four children. The Bravo family already had a reputation, but Arla was in love and couldn't be swayed by her parents class concerns. 

The story is set decades later, after a tragedy has come to the family and years after Dean has left. After he left Arla bought a restaurant and her son Frank manages it. Daughter Sofia cleans it to a shine every day before it opens, and still lives at home with her mother. Carson has a career in the financial services industry and lives not far away with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Bell, but things are going wrong in both his professional and personal life.

With developers suddenly interested in both the family home, Aberdeen, and the restaurant, the family must come together and decide what is the best decision for the future. 

There are many connections between the different characters, and different kinds of love. There is rivalry and guilt, and regret. There are dreams that have been set aside, and dreams lost forever. This novel really brings you into the intricacies of this family, and the small town that they are a part of. We see the back story of how they got to where they are, and some of the things that led to their decisions. The town is gentrifying, and things are changing, and the family must come to decisions both as a unit, and as individuals. 

I loved this story and how we gradually got to know the different members of the family, seeing how they felt and what their individual story was as well as how they fit into both their family and their community. 

Perfect Little Children

Finished May 15

Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah

Beth hasn't seen her former best friend in twelve years and she isn't sure what prompted the interest now, but when her son has a football game near her friend's house, she decides to take a look. She has no intention of approaching her. But as Beth is sitting in her car outside the house, she sees a vehicle arrive. Flora is driving, but when she gets out, paying more attention to the phone call she is on than anything else, something seems off. And when Ben sees her usher two children out of the vehicle, children with the same names and at the same ages as the children Flora and her husband had twelve years ago, Beth is stunned. She doesn't know what to think. But she can't let it go.

Beth's husband Dominic humours her at first, but becomes irritated when she won't give up, despite being given plausible answers. 

Beth is still bothered by the breakup of the friendship, seemingly for social reasons, but as she thinks about it more and more, she wonders if there wasn't more to Flora's behaviour even back then. The reader gradually learns of the circumstances around the rift, and has similar misgivings to Beth. 

This is a book of psychological suspense, one that is hard to put down. 

I really liked the character of Beth's daughter Zan, and her confidence and intelligence. She plays an important role here, and the relationship between her and Beth is a good one, despite some typical drama. 

Along the Infinite Sea

Finished August 14
Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams, tread by Kathleen McInerney

This engrossing novel follows two timelines. The first we see is in 1966, when Pepper Schuyler has just sold a car that she found in her sister's barn, and fixed back to new with the help of a friend. She has been looking for a way to ensure that she and her unborn child have enough to survive on without the help of the child's father, and now she feels she has succeeded. Except that the father still wants something from her, and all she wants is for him to stay out of her life forever. She can't believe how naive she was, falling for the moves of a well-known, and married, politician. Only one of her sister's knows her circumstances, and Pepper is too embarrassed to tell the rest of the family. But she does know that she wants this child.
But the new owner of the car, Annabelle Dommerich, has taken an interest in her, and wants to help, even though she doesn't even know her. Annabelle has her own secrets, and it is those that the other storyline reveals. That storyline begins in 1936, when Annabelle is 19, and living with her father in Paris and on the Riviera. Her father's wild life isn't hers, and she mostly keeps to herself, playing her cello, and enjoying her surroundings. She has spent the years since her mother's death in boarding school, learning from nuns, a much different life than the one she is now exposed to. She knows some of what broke up her parent's marriage, her father's philandering, and has no interest in participating in his parties now.
When her brother calls on her to use the nursing skills she learned in school on an injured friend, she finds herself in close quarters with an attractive young German Jewish man, who she finds herself developing feelings for despite herself. As Annabelle finds herself protected, both from reality, and from information that she should have been told, she finds herself making choices for her future that she may regret. From her marriage to a man who loves her well, but whom she doesn't have passion for, to the recurring appearance of the young man she fell for, she tries to find her way to a happy ending.
As we see Annabelle's and Pepper's stories converge, we see how these very different women have their inner strength in common. I really felt swept away by this novel.

The Four Corners of the Sky

Finished June 3
The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone

This novel tells the story of Annie Peregrine Goode, a young woman driven to fly. Annie was left at the home of her aunt in North Carolina by her con artists father when she was seven. He promised to come back, but only showed up a couple of times briefly in later years. Annie was raised by her aunt Sam and her housemate and friend Clark Goode, a pediatrician. But her father Jack had always told her she was a flyer, and from her first foray into the sky at the age of nine, she knew it was true. She took flying lessons and was accepted at Annapolis and became a pilot for the navy. This much we learn early in the novel as Annie is returning to the family home for her 26th birthday, trying to make it before a storm hits.
But this birthday has much more in store for her, setting Annie off on the journey of her life, on the trail of her father, and his latest escapade which involves danger, federal agents, a persistent Miami vice cop, and Cuban history. Annie only wants to know one thing, who was her mother, the one piece of information her father has consistently withheld from her. But the truth brings so much more for Annie, and changes the course of her life forever.
A story that will bring tears to your eyes, make you laugh out loud, and heave a sigh as the story closes. A story that has romance, thrill, and mystery. A story to thoroughly enjoy.

Taken

Finished February 18
Taken by Edward Bloor

This book is set in the future, in 2035. Charity Meyers lives on a gated estate in Florida with her father and her ex-stepmother. Yes, you read that right. Her father and stepmother are in the process of divorcing, but her stepmother,Mickie, still lives some of the time in the family home. Mickie is a journalist specializing in telling stories, and lately she has been telling stories in which Charity plays a leading role. Right now she is doing "An Edwardian Christmas" from the decorations and songs down to the food, expecting Charity to do what she is told and respond to the prompts she is given. Charity has one friend, Patience, in her small class, taught to children of that age in the estate. She also gets classes via teleconference from Manhattan. She is not happy, and hasn't been since her mother died a few years ago of melanoma. Her father, a doctor, threw himself into work, inventing a self-tanning concoction that sells like hotcakes, attracting said stepmother.
After moving to the estate, Charity's only real comforter was the main, Victoria, a Hispanic woman, working as a servant to save money to go to college.
Kidnapping is rampant, and the children are trained in what to do. Charity has even written a paper on the subject for school. But when she is kidnapped, things don't happen as she expected, and she isn't prepared for what they really want of her.
A tale of humanity, of the growing division between classes, of ignorance and of real life. It reminds you to take the time to enjoy living.

Scat

Finished December 6
Scat by Carl Hiaasen

This children's novel is another eco-thriller, this one featuring Nick, who is in the eighth grade and lives near the Florida Everglades. After a class trip to the Everglades, biology teacher Mrs. Stark appears to be missing. Nick and his best friend Marta are determined to figure out what is really going on with her disappearance. On her last day in class she had an altercation with a student, Duane (also known as Smoke).  At first Duane seems to be missing too, but when he turns up again, he is a changed student. What is going on?
On the class trip to the Everglades, Nick hopes to see a panther, an endangered species, but the trip is cut short. He thinks he heard a panther's cry, but isn't sure.
Meanwhile Nick is also dealing with missing his father who is serving in Iraq.
Lots going on, with an emphasis on the environment, and strong female characters as well as male.